New Delhi, April 25 : US researchers have uncovered the role of Plasmodium falciparum -- a parasitic protozoan that causes malaria -- in the development of Burkitt lymphoma (BL), the most common childhood cancer.

BL is a cancer that affects B cells -- an important cell of the immune system that produces antibodies. It has been associated with P. falciparum malaria since 1958, but the underlying mechanism of how this leads to cancer has remained a mystery.

While BL is a rare cancer globally, (found more in equatorial Africa and New Guinea) its prevalence is 10 times higher in areas with a consistent presence of P. falciparum malaria.

Five different species of Plasmodium can cause malaria in humans, but only P. falciparum is associated with BL.

'Knowing that malaria has a direct role in increasing childhood cancer risk means that measures to reduce the burden of P. falciparum malaria could also reduce the incidence of Burkitt lymphoma,' said Dr. Rosemary Rochford, Professor of Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine.

The study, published in The Journal of Immunology, found significant elevated expression of an enzyme called AID (activation-induced cytidine deaminase) in B cells during P. falciparum malarial infection in children.

Further, they found that a hallmark of BL is the translocation of a gene called MYC -- a genetic mutation where DNA breaks off one chromosome and attaches to another.

The enzyme AID is essential for MYC translocation, which is why its presence in malaria patients indicates P. falciparum malaria's role in BL, said the team.

For the study, they assessed blood from children with uncomplicated malaria for AID levels and compared them to children without malaria.

Uncomplicated malaria is when a patient's symptoms are non-specific, including fever, chills, sweating, headache, nausea, and/or vomiting, without signs of severe organ dysfunction.

AID was significantly elevated in B cells of children with uncomplicated malaria and found to be fully functional. The functionality of the excess AID also supports the role of P. falciparum in causing BL.

'This study adds to the body of literature pointing to a critical role of the enzyme, AID, in the aetiology of Burkitt lymphoma and potentially in other non-Hodgkin's lymphomas,' Rochford said.

/IANS